Shoulder supporting member



Aug. 29, 1939. D. BELLFORT SHOULDER SUPPORTING MEMBER Filed Oct. 11,1957 8.5747 v/Zf Bellfarf TORN EY INVENTOR Patented Aug. 29, 1939 UNITEDSTATE 2,170,960 SHOULDER SUPPORTING MEMBER David Bellfort, New York, N.Y. Application October 11, 1937, Serial No. 168,407

3 Claims.

My invention relates generally to shoulder supporting means forgarments. More particularly, my invention relates to an improvedconstruction of a shoulder supporting member adapted for i use in womensdresses.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a shoulder supportingmember of the character described which may be made of a relativelysmall piece of material, and which is so 1*) constructed and arranged soas to possess a suflicient amount of rigidity to function as a supportwhile at the same time being relatively flexible to accommodate itselfto the shoulder contour of the wearer.

Another object of my invention is to provide a supporting member of thecharacter described which shall be relatively inexpensive and simple tomanufacture, which shall be neat in appearance, which shall be easilyapplied and which at go the same time shall be highly efficient for thepurposes set forth.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in parthereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which thescope of application will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown one of the variouspossible embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a portion of a womans garmentembodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is .an enlarged cross-sectional view taken substantially on theline 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 ofFig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view, slightly in pero spective, of thesupporting member constructed in accordance with my invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, there is disclosed a portion ofa garment, such as for example a womans dress Ill, having my novel 4.3shoulder supporting member l5 attached thereto in the manner soon to bedescribed.

The supporting member l5, one of which is employed on each shoulder andwhich is constructed in accordance with my invention, comprises alongitudinal strip of any suitable material such as for example a stripl6 of tape material, as shown in the drawing. In order to providesufficient body for the member l5 so that it may satisfactorily supportthe shoulders of the dress H], the strip I6 is provided with a plu- 5PATENT OFFICE rality of transversely disposed folds or plaits ll,arranged in any desired formation, such as for example that shown in thedrawing. The said plaits I! also serve to render the member l5relatively flexible so that it may readily adjust itself to the contourof the wearer's shoulder. The

strip l6 may be retained in such plaited condition by a row of stitchingI8 disposed adjacent one longitudinal edge of the strip 16, after it hasbeen plaited.

It is noted that described the folds of the strip so arranged, as to bythe construction as above I6 have been three plies or thickmemberpresent its length.

The member l5 may be attached to a garment such as the dress 10 in anysuitable manner,

such as for example that shown in the drawing where the said memberterial of the dress by a three through the overlapping poring throughthe member and tions and 2| of i5 is stitched to the marow of stitchingl9 passlayers a, b and c of the the shoulder and sleeve respectively.The said row of stitching I!) may be disposed adjacent the shoulder seam22 of the dress Hi.

When the member [5 has been attached to the dress In as above described,it is seen that the major portion of the transverse width thereof isdisposed outwardly away This has the effect of broadening or seam 22.

extending the shoulders It Will thus be S from the shoulder of thedress.

een that there is provided a device in which the several objects of thisinvention are achieved, and to meet the conditions of which is welladapted practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above inven mightbe made in forth, it is to be tion, and as various changes theembodiments above set understood that all matter herein set forth orshown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

ports comprising a ing longitudinal rality of transverse single strip ofmaterial havedges and provided with a plufolds intermediate the endsthereof, each of said strips being secured adjacent one longitudinaledge thereof to said body portion and at a with said seam an pointsubstantially coinciding d having a portion adjacent the otherlongitudinal edge thereof extending into and contactively supporting aportion of said sleeve to thereby extend the shoulder outwardly beyondsaid seam.

2. In a dress, the combination of a body portion, sleeves attached tosaid body portion by a seam, and shoulder supports, each of saidsupports comprising a single strip of material having longitudinal edgesand provided with a plurality of transversely arranged box pleatsintermediate the ends thereof, each of said strips being securedadjacent one longitudinal edge thereof to said body portion and at apoint substantially coinciding with said seam and having a portionadjacent the other longitudinal edge thereof extending into andcontactively supporting a portion of said sleeve to thereby extend theshoulder outwardly beyond said seam.

3. In a dress, the combination of a body portion, sleeves attached tosaid body portion by a seam, and shoulder supports, each of saidsupports comprising a single strip of tape material having parallellongitudinal edges, said strip being provided with a plurality oftransverse folds intermediate the ends thereof, said folds being soarranged as to form substantially three superimposed layers of tapematerial, a portion adjacent each end of said strip being foldedinwardly on itself to provide two superimposed layers of tape material,each of said supports being secured adjacent one longitudinal edgethereof to said body portion at a point closely adjacent the said sleeveand body joining seam, the major portion of the width of said stripextending into and contactively supporting a portion of said sleeve tothereby artificially exaggerate the shoulder width of the wearer.

DAVID BELLFORT.

